The cost of certified non GMO soybean meal is prohibitive in Europe

Lead: Amsterdam, June 12 (Reuters) - European buyers are interested in buying soybean meal without genetically modified ingredients, but the cost of full certification of genetically modified products is too high, according to sources close to the European feed industry on Wednesday Supermarket chains like Tesco in the UK and Carrefour in France have been leading the way in non GM meat sales, with soybean meal being the largest ingredient in animal feed But many food companies are reducing European consumers' fear of GM food by purchasing soybean meal from Brazil, where it would be illegal for GM crops to go through a more rigorous and expensive certification process Jochen Koester, chairman of cert certification, told Reuters: 'we have certified many Brazilian materials, but surprisingly few people in Europe are willing to pay for certification I can understand that everyone is trying to reduce their costs At the same time, he added that there has been a significant increase in the number of non GMO soybean meal certifications from small producers such as India Since many consumers are worried about the damage to their health and environment caused by genetically engineered crops, the transgenic problem became one of the most important problems in Europe in 1998 Strict certification costs, from seeds to shipping documents at every step - cost per ton to Europe is $12-20, increasing the total cost by $5-10 per ton Non GM supplies from Brazil are much cheaper without strict certification, with only 3 to 6 euros per ton, or $2.83 to $5.66 More Brazilian crushing plants and soybean meal exporters have passed preliminary certification this year, Koester said, which checks the identity retention certification system from farms to crushing farms, namely IP certification system This has increased the number of non GMO soybeans certified by cert ID by 50% to 6 million tons, compared with 4 million tons last year So far, there are about 2.5 million tons of soybean or soybean meal to be certified, but if there are more orders, there will be more to be certified [the market is confused] Koester said there are many uncertainties in Europe, which depends on which country and company The situation is different everywhere The market is confused because it doesn't know what it needs Brazil is the world's largest non transgenic soybean producer In the United States, transgenic crops account for 70% of the soybean production in the United States and 95% of the soybean production in Argentina Currently, Brazil is busy with soybean harvesting The U.S Department of Agriculture estimates that Brazil's soybean production this year has reached 43.5 million tons, accounting for 24% of the world's total soybean production This year, the number of cert ID certified non GMO soybeans from India has doubled to 1 million tons, filling the gap left by the decline in Brazil's supply in the past five months of this year A carrier specializing in the import of non GMO soybean meal said that the soybean meal imported to France through strict certification this year is expected to stabilize at 300000-350000 tons Bernt Antonsen, a Paris based importer of non GMO Products, said it was still a small niche market One third of France's 3 million tons of soybean meal imported each year, or 1 million tons, is marketed as Brazil's Non GMO soybean meal, but it has not passed strict certification Demand is strongest in the UK, France and Nordic countries, which are not interested in soybean meal from southern European countries such as Spain and Portugal Antonsen said his biggest client was in Scandinavia, where he set up another import company, tracedeal He said the big customers there include salmon farmers who need non GM soy meal as their fish food The demand for strict certification is expected to increase next year, as EU laws require traceability of all imported soybean meal ingredients by 2005 (author:) share to feed Weibo share to: